Uh Oh, Bake Makes Another Pitching Decision

I forget who Dusty considered to start Game 162 of the 1993 season but I am certain that Solomon Torres was the wrong choice. In 2002 he chose Livan Hernandez over Kirt Reuter and well you know…..

Would it have really mattered? Gross and Lackey shut us down in both of those games. But you never know. If Torres and Livan hadn’t let both games get away our hitters may have found a way…..

And here we are today, 15 years after the Livan call and 24 years after the Torres debacle and Dusty is faced with yet another decision. He has chosen Tanner Roark over Strasburg and I am going to predict right now that no dude named *Tanner* is ever going to pitch a post season game for the ages….

Stras is sick or something. Stras is a known pussy so I’ll guess he has a cold. Maybe he flat out told Dusty he couldn’t go. We don’t know.

But we do know Baker’s history with tabbing pitchers in games like today’s. And it is frighteningly bad.

Strasburg is a pussy along with their whole organization. Oh theirs mold in are hotel, wtf theirs other hotels to check in too if that was an issue,they just keep looking for excuses not to win in the playoffs, pulling Zimmerman who was dominating the Giants, thank you,Holding back the pussy at then end of the year on pitch count not to have him in the playoffs just dumbshit row decisions by the orq& manager..Tanner Roark lol winning a must game… no chance..

Anyone remember a former major league reliever named Chuck McElroy? He is quite connected to Barry Bonds. He was the first pitcher Bonds faced in the big leagues and also has the second fewest hits given up to Bonds in his career.

Anyway I took my eight year old for his first baseball lesson with him yesterday. Great guy. Both his sons (one in the Cardinals system and the other in the Reds system) helped out as well.

Remember him well. I make up all-decade teams for every franchise and run them through a computer simulation. Because the Cubs never seem to have had good lefty relievers, he might be their MVP for the 90’s.

In a stunning reversal, Stephen Strasburg is now expected to start today in Game 4 of the National League Division Series presented by T-Mobile, as the Nationals face elimination against the Cubs at Wrigley Field.

The club has not confirmed that Strasburg will start in the 4 p.m. ET/3 CT game on TBS.

I hope everyone gets a chance to read Snarkk’s post at the end of the last thread. He wrote a very vivid account of fires in Northern Calif. at the moment. The footage in the news is unreal. It’s apocalyptic stuff. I was stunned seeing it.

In ’02 Dusty pulled a starter too soon in a Game 6, then in ’07 he pulled a starter too late in a Game 6 (the Bartman game.) Dusty is either one unlucky dude as a manager, or he just doesn’t have good instincts on these issues.

Combination of both Zumie.
Ortiz was crusing along against the Angels, no reason to pull him, and then he mocked the Angels by giving Ortiz the game ball, which fired up their dugout and Scott Speizo made them pay and the rest was history! No flapper really thought they would win game 7 after that blunder..

Manager Dusty Baker said Strasburg had reported being “under the weather,” although Baker offered no specifics. Baker also said Strasburg had thrown a bullpen session Tuesday, but club officials told Nationals reporters Strasburg actually threw the bullpen session Monday. Mold??? Dusty making stuff up again.

Lots of talk about the Nationals having HFA all 4 trips to the postseason and coming up 0-4. It is not that complicated, just be the best team in the weakest, most pathetic division and you win enough games for a high seed. Then, in the postseason, your strength of schedule exposes you and you earn the title of “chokers” when the quality really wasn’t there in the first place.

Meanwhile, over in Cleveland, Girardi has an easy decision that can’t possibly be second-guessed. Sonny Gray or a popular future Hall of Famer with a 737 winning percentage.
I was surprised to hear Ferrell got fired. That makes absolutely no sense. Both the Yankees and Red Sox played clutch baseball down the stretch. The New York papers are saying Girardi will be fired if he loses today. DUMB!
Re Dusty…good man, good regular season manager, terrible bullpen manager. He works on auto-pilot. Strasburg isn’t his decision to make though. He’s Sarah Huckabee Sanders to Steve Boris’ John Kelly. Francona and Girardi are the new school managers, perfect for post-season elimination games.. Use your best reliever when the situation calls for it. Pay close attention to the fifth inning.

Been a while since I’ve used Word Press’ 20th Century format. No edit button, autocorrect that changes the correct spelling of names, can’t copy and reinsert sentences to their proper place.
Hope everyone in the fire zone safe.

I don’t know. But the two shooters couldn’t be more different. Stix was eating his breakfast and doing a crossword puzzle when he got buzzed, repeatedly, by a low flying chopper, and he reacted. He also surrendered peacefully to the cops. And he’s in his 70s, frail, in failing health, and unlikely to aim a rifle at anything ever again. I’d hope the effing judge would feel no vindictive bump from the Las Vegas massacre.

WTF, lol? No they aren’t. The Snakes pitching was an absolute joke. Either of these staffs could shut down LA. And I’d take either of these offenses over the Dbacks who are Goldshit and a bunch of guys.

My feeling is that the Cubs and Cleveland are the last two remaining teams that could knock off the Dodgers, and both of those teams may not even make it to the next round.
Houston in the World Series might be a bit awestruck by the moment. They could eventually win one.
The Dodgers would probably sweep the Yankees.

Cleve on the cusp of two gigantic playoff choke jobs. And with the Cavs in a shambles, and Bron Bron hitting the road after this season, the Factory of Sadness will be churning out misery at an alarming rate.

Speaking of non-baseball entertainment.
Zoom – you ever read any Dan Siimmons? I never had until I just read “The Terror”. From what I gather, I guess this guy Simmons is known for his fantastical sci-fi stuff, which I am not a fan of. But, this book is historical fiction – which I know you enjoy as I do. This one is about the 1845 Franklin Expedition, where 126 men set sail on two ships – the HMS Erebus, and the HMS Terror – to search for the northwest Passage through the arctic. None of them were ever heard from again. Other than knowing their ‘planned” initial route, it’s all conjecture, obviously, but a great story. Long book, but a quick read. Check it out if you’re interested.
Oh, and interestingly enough, it was published in 2007, and the HMS Terror was just discovered earlier this year at the bottom of the Ocean up in the arctic circle because of the warming temps allowing for a much wider window to search for it.
And, I just found out AMC is working on a TV series with the same title, The Terror, based on the book…

Well, I was glad to see the Indians reduce the size of the Chief Wahoo cartoon on their hats this year. Maybe it’s vanishing. I think they also drastically shortened the height of the feather and moved it to the side, so it didn’t look like a huge middle finger aimed at us. I’m not glad to see the yanks advance. The Astros need to step up now.

Flav when I first started following baseball in early ’60s, the Yanks won all the flipping time in AL and most WS too vs. NL teams or players I liked. One of my buddies we used to play Strat-O-Matic with loved the Yanks, and that team was unbeatable too. F-ing Steve Hamilton romped.

Hated Steinbrenner, and disliked the Torre teams too. Now? Not so much since they have new group and the annoying guys are gone. Just rather see Stros in there.

Hey, Tony Torcato was from our backyard too–Woodland High–my alma mater.
Funny thing, all of us from Woodland were so fired up about Torcato and thought he’d be a solid player. After he flamed out, Pedroia came through Woodland High and then ASU. Torcato was a physical stud and the thinking was that if he couldn’t make it, this little Pedroia guy sure as hell ain’t gonna make it either.
Funny how that worked out.
I’m bummed about Cleveland. They were the team I most wanted to see win it all—to make up for last year and end their long streak. I worried the Yankees had a little bit of destiny going for them though.
Glad to see the Nats forced a Game 5 and Strasburg came up big.
I still fear no one is stopping LA. I’d love to be wrong about that.

I agree Dan Simmons is very good. I read his novel “Hyperion,” and was very impressed. I also read a collection of his short stories. I meant to read more of his stuff but haven’t gotten around to it yet.

Many, maybe most, of the people whose homes have been destroyed in the wine country fires have really lost a lot. Not everyone was able to respond to evacuation orders. Old people in “retirement” trailer parks probably went up in flames. Others who lost homes probably didn’t have insurance enough to cover the property losses, much less the personal losses. But there are exceptions. A guy with an office on our floor sent his family away from his home earlier this week, and spent the night working with his crew to harvest his grapes and get them off to the contracted buyer, before he left. He showed up in the office this morning with many stories to tell about the shifting winds and the flames flying up along nearby ridges. He reviewed his insurance policies, and decided that his coverage is good. This afternoon, as I left the office, he was kicking back in the reception area, watching the tv news feed show the fire move toward his home. He was in a good mood, starting to muse about the way he’ll improve his house when he rebuilds with the insurance payoff.